No change in establishment's Balochistan policy: Mengal
18 March, 2013
QUETTA: All the elections in Pakistan except the one in 1970 were rigged in favour of the establishment and its cronies, said President of Balochistan National Party Sardar Akhtar Mengal on Sunday.
In a detailed letter to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, he alleged the Pakistani establishment had virtually blocked the way for true representatives of the people through "rigged and tampered elections."
He said that pro-Islamabad "gangs of opportunists" were imposed on the people of Balochistan by misusing official powers, state resources and authority. Sardar Mengal said that once again, there is a greater emphasis on holding free, fair and transparent elections, but in the same breath he expressed his reservations saying he does not believe the upcoming elections would live up to the expectations.
The BNP President said that the Baloch people had been denied justice for the past six decades and with the hope of seeking justice, he appeared before the Court when summoned by the superior judiciary.
He said the Baloch perspective was put before the Parliamentary Committees, local courts and finally the Supreme Court of Pakistan with a hope to get justice but he regretted that "the repressive actions against the innocent people, particularly young ones, sped up trampling down the basic human rights of the citizens. The process of justice initiated by the Supreme Court is disappointingly slow, killing the hopes of the common people in the judicial system."
The BNP President claimed that Justice delayed, is justice denied and it is true in case of Balochistan. The delay in justice was fate of the Baloch people for the past six decades and they never received justice at any forum. "I am more worried over the mutilated bodies of young people tortured and killed in official custody than participating in the coming elections. The death squads are operating under the official patronage," Sardar Mengal said. The heirs of missing persons are suffering from explained agonies losing hopes in the speedy justice system, he added.
He said that he had made a correct assessment in September 2012 that there is no change in the policies of the Pakistani establishment towards the Baloch people. "Since last September when I appeared before the Court and made my submissions, more than 100 political activists and workers have disappeared, 60 mutilated bodies of young Balochs thrown at the public places, 75 political activists were made target for indiscriminate killing and the Hazara Community that shared happiness and sorrows with the Baloch people were made the target of killing. Hundreds of Hazara tribesmen were killed in brutal manner," argued the BNP President.
He was of the view that peaceful and congenial atmosphere was necessary for participating in the electoral process, adding that "finding mutilated bodies of Baloch missing persons from Karachi indicated the continuity of the State policy towards Baloch people." The death and destruction in Balochistan is meant to deny the Baloch people a genuine and representative leadership in the elections and it is not possible without resolving the conflict or the artificial crisis created by the establishment, Sardar Mengal added.
He was of the opinion that there is no constitutional court and the Supreme Court can resolve the conflict between the Baloch and Islamabad or the Pakistani establishment by intervening in the affairs.
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